He is obviously an excellent skater and a better skater than Tatiana's husband. Just compare what he and Tatiana have achieved vs Tatiana and her husband as a team. However I would still say yes Tatiana is overall the better skater. Just like when Maxim was with his former partner Maria Mukhortova, he was the superior skater, both in technical ability and overall style and presentation. Now with Tatiana the reverse is true.

Maybe glaring is a strong/wrong word. It's just that sometimes his posture irks me. He sometimes doesn't really get into his knees and seem smooth, but then again maybe the problem is the height difference between him and Tatiana. You see I'm still in love with Sergei and Anton, so I'm having a hard time warming up to Maxim. That's it, his style just irks

I think Maxim does have powerful presence, even though Tatiana is a better skater. Usually in pairs the point is to showcase the woman and have the man facilitate the elements. It's not like ice dance where both partners need similar skating ability (exception being Margaglio being glaringly worse than Fusar-Poli). There's more refinement in Tatiana's skating, but it's not like Maxim is "keeping up".

What has Tatiana shown that people think she's a stronger skater? She hasn't had any decent program in her entire life. She's not musical, can't interpret anything that well. She hasn't shown she's capable of doing something great. If you put her side by side with Gordeeva or Mishkutenok, she's just an average skater with no remarkable skill.

The way this thread started, you'd think she's Carolina Kostner, full of potential, but being held back by inconsistency or in her case, Trankov. Give me a break, this girl is lucky to partner up with him, and with Russia pushing relentlessly for a pair to win Gold, they suddenly become top tier. They are not top tier skaters, she's not top tier skater.

Their TES aren't as explosive and impressive as the Zhangs. Their PCS are atrocious. It's amazing they became unbeatable with the right push.

LOL no Stanislav is not her husbond, just her ex-skating partner! Theyre dating each other

I thought they broke up and she is now dating Maxim? There are so many rumors about them now. They even spent vacation together. Back to the main topic I love Tatiana's lines and if you ask me, yes she is better skater than Max. She is very radiar performer.

Their TES aren't as explosive and impressive as the Zhangs. Their PCS are atrocious. It's amazing they became unbeatable with the right push.

I disagree. Their twists are even bigger than the Zhangs ever were, with much straighter form. Their throws are just as big with much better landings. I am not even their fan, and I dont think I have seen such an overall strong technical team in a long time. They were robbed of some titles by being undermarked on technical elements- 2012 Grand Prix final for instance where they skated clean in both programs and still lost lost to S&S who had a mistake in both. If they lost there it should have been on PCS, but they lost on TES to the Germans who have a much weaker twist and a mistake in both programs, which was crazy.

Speaking of the Zhangs if there was a team overscored for many years it is them. I liked them and had a soft spot for them, despite their rivalry with my favorite team, and the annoyance at the pushing of the federation for them over my favorite team for awhile. However people have short memories, and forget there was far more howling over their marks and results than there have ever been or ever will be over V/T's. They even got huge PCS despite having virtually no skating skills and being on of the SLOWEST teams in history between their big tricks. Despite that V/T have already surpassed their career achievements.

In purely cosmetic terms, Tatiana's posture and line is glaringly better than Trankov. Trankov may be powerful and fast but posture isn't one of his strengths. This kind of thing mattered a great deal pre-COP, especially well-exemplified by Russians, but it's merely a bonus these days.